Tornado rips into New Orleans suburb

By rguillot

Created 04/24/2013 - 10:00pm

POSTED: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - 10:00pm

UPDATED: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - 10:04pm

CNN — Two tornadoes ripped into a New Orleans suburb Wednesday afternoon, damaging homes and knocking down power lines, but no injuries were reported, the National Weather Service and local authorities said.

The storms hit in Kenner, Louisiana, near the city's international airport. One damaged cars and roofs and brought down trees and electrical wires in northwestern Kenner, Jefferson Parish spokeswoman Kriss Fortunato said.

Mike Efferson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New Orleans, said the twister had estimated top winds of 90 mph.

The second struck near a major intersection in eastern Kenner with 75 mph winds, cutting a swath two miles long and 75 yards wide, the weather service said.

The first was rated an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale used to grade tornadoes; the second an EF-0, the weather service said.